Launch Vehicles: Matching Capability to Requirement

Date of Event:

March 11th, 2014

Run Time:

15:00 - 16:15

Room Number:

202

Track:

Commercial Satellite

Without a reliable ride to orbit, the global satellite-enabled marketplace would be dead on the launch pad. For decades a stable of highly reliable rockets – Ariane, Atlas, Delta, Proton, Soyuz, Zenit - has propelled the development of businesses worldwide. Through innovation or adaptation, boosters such as Falcon 9 and Antares have made the scene, expanding choice and addressing specific market opportunities. Add to this mix the re-entry of China’s Long March, continued enhancement of the H-IIB variants, and hopefuls from India and others, and once again this market of razor-thin margins and huge expenses is poised for struggle as downward pressure on pricing takes center stage. How are the primary launch services companies adjusting to a marketplace increasingly segmented by payload and mission? What new technologies show promise for the twin goals of increased reliability and lowered costs? Is the current vogue for smaller spacecraft and hosted payloads perturbing the established market, or is it creating newer, smaller, pieces of a growing pie? How will new opportunities such as resupply of the International Space Station alter the competitive set?